Defensive coordinator Bryce Saia confident in Southeast Missouri State football team's consistent approach

Bryce Saia stopped himself as soon as the word came out of his mouth.

The Southeast Missouri State defensive coordinator, standing at the Rosengarten Athletic Complex following the Redhawks' spring practice on Wednesday afternoon, blurted out, "Consistency," as he explained the progress of his defensive players.

It didn't take him long to add, "I sound like a broken record."

That's because since Saia joined coach Tom Matukewicz's staff three years ago, he's always preached consistent play on the defensive side of the ball.

That hasn't changed, and neither has Saia's confidence that the Redhawks are ready to take another step toward being a top defense in the Ohio Valley Conference.

"I can tell we're in our third year here," Saia said. "We're progressing, and we should be progressing if we're doing our jobs recruiting and if we're doing our jobs coaching."

Saia can explain himself from a consistency standpoint though. He recalled the Redhawks ranking second in the conference in scoring defense after Week 9 of last season, but after a little fall off over the final two games they finished with the fourth-best scoring defense, allowing an average of 27.2 points per game.

During Matukewicz and company's first season in 2014 the Redhawks allowed 30.6 points per game, which was seventh in the nine-team league.

Southeast returns plenty of experience from last year's improved defense, which is why Saia believes its right on track to continue the progression he laid out from Day 1.

The Redhawks return most of their linebackers and defensive line that ranked second in the OVC with 31 sacks on the season. Second-team all-OVC inside linebacker Roper Garrett is back for his senior season after recording 106 tackles and 4.5 sacks last year.

Defensive tackle John Popovich led Southeast with 5.0 sacks and also had 27 tackles, 6.5 for loss, and is back for his final year. Outside linebacker Chad Meredith was second on the squad with 68 tackles, 10.5 for loss, and recorded 3.5 sacks during his redshirt sophomore season.

"I've seen them grow up. We had these kids when they were puppies," Saia said. "... I think the game has slowed down for them a little bit and I think that they've matured. They've grown up, and I appreciate them."

Outside linebacker Kendall Donnerson returns for his junior season after playing in 12 games as a true freshman and 11 as a sophomore last year. Saia has high hopes for him -- he recorded 32 tackles and one sack.

"In a 3-4 I think you have to have some special edge players. Our outside linebackers have to be able to do a lot of things and I think we have that," Matukewicz said. "Those guys can run, drop underneath routes in the flat, but also can pass rush and the offense doesn't know if they're coming or going."

Inside linebackers Stephon Williams and Arsante Connors are also players that have caught the eye of Saia.

Williams played in 11 games and made six starts as a true freshman last year. He finished with 50 tackles, 6.5 for loss, and 1.5 sacks.

Connors, out of Oakville High School in St. Louis, redshirted last season.

ILB's Terrance Hill, Lloyd Laufili Time and Rider Garrett, and OLB's Byron Wilson and Josh Kinzer are back as well.

Marlon Hampton, Josh Wilson, Travis Sanders and Fletcher Evans return to the defensive line.

Wilson and Sanders are limited during spring ball as they recover from torn ACLs.

Evans, a junior defensive tackle who played in three games and recorded one tackle, has been a "pleasant surprise," for Saia.

"When we got here he was 265-270 [pounds], now he's consistently in the 290s and he's grown up," Saia said. "I always had high hopes for him, but you have to see it to believe it and I'm starting to see it. You know depth up front is critical and that's a kid that we are counting on now."

The last two seasons the depth has taken a hit as the seasons have gone on with multiple key players sustaining season-ending injuries at one point or another.

But part of the plan when this coaching staff took over was to build up that depth and finally in Year 3 Saia thinks it's there.

Health should not be as big of an issue as they've recruited players to fit their system and the hope is there's not much of a drop-off in talent if someone goes down.

"That's not an excuse anymore. Got to stay healthy," Saia said. "Recruiting takes care of that. Then just consistency. I feel like as a coordinator we're getting our talent up where I don't have to make some miracle call, where we can just line up and play good base, fundamental football, and a lot of that should take care of itself."